Washington Commissioner of Public Lands

Employer / Organization

Next Election

Aug 04, 2020

Filing Window

May 11, 2020 - May 15, 2020

Description

The governor of Washington state holds the highest office within the state, heading the executive branch. Primary responsibilities of this position include: the enforcement of state laws, approving or vetoing bills passed by the state legislature, drafting a balanced budget to submit to the legislature, granting pardons (with the exception of impeachment), and convening legislature. The governor also has the ability to use line-item veto for bills that relate to appropriations. A line-item veto is also referred to as a partial veto, and pronounces the ability of the governor (in specific appropriation situations) to reverse or cancel specific provisions of a bill without needing to veto the entire legislative proposal. The governor also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Washington military. The governor serves a four-year term, with no limit on the number of terms served. The salary of this position is $166,981 per year.

Application Guidelines

The filing window for this position begins the Monday two weeks prior to Memorial Day and ends on the Friday of that week (5 days). Candidacy filing papers can be acquired at and are submitted to either the county elections office or the Secretary of State Office in Olympia. For non-partisan offices, if there is only two candidates filed for a position they will run against each other in the November election. If more than two candidates file for a non-partisan office, than the non-partisan office will go through the August primary and the top two vote getters will advance to the November election for the seat. For a partisan office, the candidates will run in the August primary even if only two people are participating. This may create scenarios where the same candidates participate for the same seat in the August primary and November election. For any further questions, the King County Elections office can be reached at (206) 296-1565 or elections@kingcounty.gov, and the Secretary of State Office can be reached at (360) 902-4151 or mail@sos.wa.gov. ***Washington is one of the only states with online filing for candidacy. For more information regarding filing online, please see here: http://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/for-candidates/online-candidate-filing.aspx